To Tame a Bear

by Emilia Hartley

  His beast growled. She was feisty, their mate, but she was not strong. He pushed her hair back from her face, cupping her chin. The beast would have her stay behind and Dom agreed, for once. He tried to convince her that it would be safer that way, but she listened to none of it. Aimee was determined. As much as he wanted to love that about her, it frightened him this time.

  What if he lost her? What if the Den hurt her the way they hurt him? Panic was a sharp shard of glass in his heart. It shredded the hope that he’d found in the backyard. Their date was all but forgotten now that the Den had brought its war back to their doorstep.

  “You have to promise me,” Dom bargained, “that if things turn south you will run as fast and far as you can. Shift and slide down the mountain back to town if you have to. I don’t care what you do as long as you protect yourself.”

  She hesitated. He knew the next words out of her mouth would be a lie, but he would have to let it be for the time. The longer they argued, the further away the Den shifters would be.

  “I promise.” Aimee wasted no time running for the truck once the words left her mouth.

  Dom glanced back at Orion. The shifter he’d been holding down was unconscious. Orion stood and shook out his fur before lumbering toward the bed of the truck. It would be a strange sight, but Dom didn’t think they would have to go near town.

  Last time the Den had kidnapped Callie, Richard made a beeline for a small airstrip, completely avoiding town. Dom didn’t think Richard would do the same thing twice. This time, the Den leader would try a different approach. Still, he wouldn’t go near town. There were too many human eyes and ears there.

  The beast smashed through Dom’s careful calculations, demanding a fight. They had to protect their mate, their family. Thinking was a waste of time to the beast. Dom struggled to remind the beast that they needed to find Callie and Morgan before they could fight.

  “Aimee,” he called out while the beast clawed at him again. It hadn’t appreciated Dom’s retort. “How well can you drive in the snow?”

  Without responding, she left the passenger door and ran for the driver’s side. She was small behind the wheel of the massive truck, but Dom knew he couldn’t drive. Not while his beast raged inside him. He needed to break something, to destroy.

  They weren’t weak.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The steering wheel was like ice beneath her hands. It slipped this way and that until she tightened to a white-knuckled grip. Her heart pounded. The Den had struck again. She’d recognized the asshole beneath Orion, a guy she’d slept with, actually. She didn’t tell Dom that, of course. It was just a reminder of how she’d never belonged, not even while she thought she’d made connections.

  “Where do you think they are?” Her voice was a shaky whisper.

  The truck hit a patch of ice, making her stomach flip, but it didn’t slide too far with the weight of a bear in the back. She yanked the wheel in the other direction to straighten the truck. There was a small part of her that wished she’d stayed home when Dom asked. Fear gnawed at her and made her stomach roil.

  There was no way she would leave Callie in the hands of the Den. They’d shown their true colors recently. No one was safe while Richard held control.

  “I’m not sure, but they can’t be far.” Dom reached and laid a hand on her leg, as though he was trying to calm her. She knew it was for his benefit as well when his shaking hand calmed on her thigh. “No one heard engines. I suspect they came on foot for the element of surprise.”

  She let out a shaky breath. “I never thought I’d be discussing strategy like a war council, but here we are.”

  The joke fell flat. Aimee worried they wouldn’t get Callie back this time. They didn’t know what happened. Orion hadn’t shifted back so he couldn’t tell them if he’d seen anything. She didn’t think he had or else he would have tried to say something. He loved his family of shifters.

  It left them almost empty handed. Callie’s father had tried to kill her last time. Aimee didn’t think he’d waste any time this round. They needed to be quick. Past the dark windows, she scanned the mountain forest for Morgan. She didn’t think Richard would have taken the man with him.

  There were two possibilities. Morgan could still be chasing his mate, or he was unconscious. The man that had waited years for her to come back to him would not let someone take her from him so easily. Aimee’s stomach pinched, turning sour as she thought of one other option.

  She shook the thought free from her mind. There was no time to waste worrying about what could be. It would only make her shaky and incapable of helping her friend. She could only hope that Callie could take care of herself until they found her.

  In the truck bed, Orion stood on his hind legs. The truck shook when he set his paw on the roof. Beside her, Dom rolled down his window. He leaned his head into the cold air, narrowing his eyes against the snow that flew in his face. Both were scenting the air, searching for signs of Morgan and Callie, if the scrunch of Dom’s nose was any indication.

  There was an awful scratching sound right before Dom shouted for her to turn left. She jerked the wheel, obeying his command. The truck careened through the snow. It fishtailed toward a tree. Aimee screeched, but Orion stuck out a paw. He grunted, pushing against the tree to keep them from crashing.

  Aimee hit the gas. The truck surged forward. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the mangled tree. The ground ahead was unpaved, covered in snow.

  “Are you sure about this?” Her voice was shrill.

  “Yes. They’re this way. Orion scented them, too.”

  Aimee wished, not for the first time, that she could have been a bear, too. The truck was fast, but it was dangerous. If they’d been able to run through the woods as bears, they wouldn’t have had to worry about the snow.

  The trees opened ahead. Through the darkness, Aimee caught sight of several figures. Two human figures fought against one another. She held her breath, searching for Morgan. Then, a bear broke through the trees and crashed between the two fighting forms. Right then, Aimee figured she could put the truck to use.

  “Tell Morgan to grab her.”

  Dom flashed her a wary glance, but leaned out the window and barked the order without question. The bear folded itself around Callie and leapt away. Aimee pressed down on the gas. The engine groaned, and the whole truck jutted forward.

  Orion leapt from the back. Without his weight, the truck flew over the snow. Richard barely had time to look up before the truck hit him. Satisfaction made her cry out. She bounced in her seat, slapping the ceiling with glee.

  Aimee swung the wheel around and slammed on the brakes, one hand on the emergency brake. Dom leapt out before the truck came to a stop. She opened her mouth to ask why, thinking they’d won, when more forms poured out from the woods around them.

  Of course, Richard hadn’t travelled alone.

  She hesitated, hand on the door. Callie was safe with Morgan. He would get her home. She craned her neck. Dom was the one alone. Instead of opening her door, she kicked herself across the seat and jumped onto the snow beside him. He looked down at her with surprise and a bit of hesitation.

  Aimee shook her head. She wasn’t going anywhere.

  ***

  This was the agreement, Dom reminded himself. Yet, when the beast saw her feet hit the snow beside him, it rebelled. Every ounce of him wanted to wrap her in his arms and run back toward the cabin. The only thing that kept him where he stood was the knowledge that not even the cabin was safe.

  He shook his head and turned back to the Den shifters slowly surrounding them. The faces were garish, almost ghoulish, in the lack of light. His heart shuddered. He could almost feel their hands on him again, holding him down while he screamed. Cold steel felt the same as silver when it was dragged through the skin over and over.

  Aimee pressed her side against his. Her presence chased away the ghosts that haunted his mind. The faces became just that, faces. They were shifters, just like him
. Nothing more and nothing less.

  The beast growled. The sound left him and echoed through the grove. The Den shifters glanced at one another. He lowered his head and readied his beast. It wanted to prove that it was still strong. Here was its chance to do just that.

  The part of his mind that clung to calculations knew they were outnumbered. He held onto hope that Aimee would hold up her part of the bargain, even if he was lying to himself. They both knew she would stay. Aimee wouldn’t leave his side. She hadn’t this whole time, even when he was being nigh impossible to deal with.

  His beast drove him, one eye on Aimee while they pushed back the Den shifters. He lifted a shifter from the ground and threw him down the hill. The shifter made no noise in the snow, not until his body hit a bramble of leaf-less bushes.

  “We only want Callie and Morgan,” Dom tried to tell them as he swung his fists. The onslaught wouldn’t stop, so he kept fighting even while he spoke. “Give them back to us and we won’t bother the Den ever again.”

  Callie snarled, obviously not in agreement. The fight had jaded her. Dom couldn’t blame her. The shift in her father’s loyalties had been sudden and sharp, cutting through her and destroying her world. Had it not been for Morgan’s love, ready to catch her, Dom was sure Callie would not have fared well after such a life altering sequence of events.

  A growl rippled up the hill from the gulch below. Richard appeared, face contorted in rage as he climbed up the hill. Callie, despite her snarls, froze where she stood. It wasn’t fear that crossed her face, but indecision. It was indecision that would get them killed.

  Dom did not want to stand in the middle of a war. He could not stand to see any more of the people he loved hurt by this fight. He wouldn’t allow this battle to break them the way the last one broke him. Sliding through the snow, he placed himself between Callie and Richard.

  Two massive bears dropped to all fours and stalked forward. Morgan pressed his side against Callie while Orion took the other flank. Only then did Dom realize his mistake. Aimee stood wide open and unguarded.

  Richard spun toward her. He reached out with hooked fingers and caught the hood of her new coat. The sound of tearing fabric cut through the air. Callie cried out. She hit Dom’s back in her effort to get to Aimee. The impact propelled Dom forward. Guilt and shame slowed him.

  He wasn’t fit to be her mate.

  Dom caught the coat, but it was empty. A small form fell to the snow and scurried about. Aimee’s shift had been quick thinking, the kind that most likely saved her when Dom had failed. If they survived this, he couldn’t stay with her. How could he when he could barely protect her? He couldn’t allow Aimee to put her trust in him. It would only endanger her again.

  Dom threw the jacket to the ground and glanced over his shoulder. The grove was dark, and it was hard to figure out where Aimee went. He thought about reaching for the bond that strung together all mates but didn’t want to acknowledge it. If he did, then he didn’t know if he could ever turn away from her.

  All he could do was tell himself she was safe.

  “You aren’t the brightest bunch of bears, but you are a loyal crew. It’s too bad that loyalty doesn’t extend to the Den.” Richard wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand, looking down at the blood.

  Pride welled inside Dom. His mate had done well, using his truck to her advantage.

  “Your loyalty didn’t extend to us,” Dom reminded the Den leader. “So, we had to protect our own. Callie is one of our own now. Leave her with us and go back to your people. We won’t bother you if you let us get on with our lives.”

  Richard shook his head, a vicious grin revealing teeth that nearly glowed in the night. “Letting you go would be a shadow on my perfect record. I can’t allow you to openly rebel or else everyone will do the same.”

  This wasn’t a rebellion, Dom wanted to say. It wasn’t a revolution or anything of the sort. All they wanted was the right to live as they pleased. Their hopes and dreams hurt no one. They wanted happiness, the chance to raise their own children, the right to chase their dreams. It was not about Richard, even though he was determined to think so.

  Dom looked around, searching for sign of his mate. Instead, his gaze fell upon the nameless faces of the Den shifters. Did they blindly follow Richard out of some sense of safety? Or, did they believe in his cause? Either way, Richard continually put their lives on the line. What did they get out of it other than pain and nightmares? Did the shifters who hurt Dom dream of their deeds night after night? Could they feel the blades in their shaking hands and Dom’s growls as they cut through his skin?

  “If you all walk away from him right now, you’ll never have to do his dirty work for him again.” Dom knew what he was asking. These shifters had homes at the Den, maybe even families, though many of them seemed too young to have found their mates already. If they listened to Dom and turned away, they would lose their place, the life they’d led.

  He didn’t expect it to work, but he saw the flicker of indecision ripple through the group of Den shifters. Richard saw it, too, and snapped at them. Some of the Den shifters steadied themselves and dropped back into a fighting stance, but there were a few that shook their heads. They acted as though they were waking from a dream, confused at how they’d gotten where they were.

  To his surprise, some of them walked away. Richard called out to them, screaming so hard that spittle flew from his lips. Dom wondered how such a man had ever come into power. There might have been a day when Richard was the stout leader he pretended to be, but years in power had turned him rotten. It corrupted him.

  There was no point in wondering how or when it happened. All that mattered was the moment they were in. The odds had been evened, only one Den shifter standing against each of them.

  Still, he couldn’t find Aimee. He waited, afraid to start a fight that would catch her underfoot. His mate was small and fragile. Dom refused to hurt her anymore. She would not have gone back to the truck or run home like he asked her. Aimee loved too strongly to leave her family behind. So, he bought himself time.

  “What’s it like, Richard? To know that you destroyed everything you fought for? This is your doing. Maybe you don’t believe it right now, but someday you’ll look back on this moment and see all the ways you screwed up.”

  Richard didn’t roar. He didn’t snarl. Instead, he launched himself at Dom. A flash of darkness against the snow caught Dom’s eye. Before Richard could leave the ground, the shape latched onto Richard’s ankle. He cried out, his leap halted.

  Richard shook his leg and Aimee rolled away. Dom ran for her, but Richard reached her first. The Den leader snarled at Aimee as he raised her by the scruff of her neck. She pulled her lips back to show her razor-sharp teeth.

  “I should have gotten rid of you years ago. I knew you were a no-good influence on my daughter. You’re the one to blame for all of this.”

  Richard flicked his wrist. Aimee hit the tree. The crack that filled the air shook through Dom. She fell to the ground, unmoving. He waited for her to breathe, to get up and run home, to do anything. When she didn’t move, his beast ripped through him.

  It was done letting Dom hold it back. The change burned over his skin, so fast that it was like a wildfire. His form erupted between the trees. He threw his head back and let loose a roar that shook the snow from the branches.

  Distantly, Dom was aware that Callie crawled toward Aimee’s unmoving form. The beast’s attention was on the man before him. That was all that mattered to the bear. Richard looked up at him, jaw dropping.

  Dom’s paw hit Richard in the face. He flew out of the snow like a rag-doll. Blood sprayed in the air and dotted the snow at their feet. This was the end. Richard’s reign was coming to a close.

  The man scrambled to his feet, clutching his face with one hand. Blood leaked between his fingers and dripped down his skin. Dom knew he should hold back, that he couldn’t kill Richard and not feel the weight of the man’s death for the rest of his life. He
also knew that his life was over. Whatever he thought he’d had was gone.

  All that was left was the beast. It charged toward Richard. This time, the man had enough sense to fight back. He dodged to the side and gripped Dom’s fur. Together, they slid through the snow. Richard grunted from the effort as he dug his feet into the ground.

  Dom wasn’t bothered. He threw his head back so that Richard’s feet left the ground. With each passing second, each swipe of his claws, more and more of Dom disappeared. The beast filled him while his human mind faded. Gone was the time he’d won a tiny stuffed otter for Aimee. It disintegrated as the beast’s claws sank into Richard’s flesh.

  The man grunted. He looked down at his stomach and the gashes in his shirt. His lips curled into a snarl, eyes flashing with his own beast. Richard summoned the bear within him, but Dom didn’t wait for him to finish. He rammed his shoulder into Richard’s stomach and toppled him to the ground. The beast that was Dom fell onto the man with the force of his weight. Claws sank into his thigh, past tendon and bones.

  Richard’s men pulled the bear off him, but the bear bucked them off. As Richard scrambled back, the bear snapped one last time. It caught Richard’s foot in its maw. Biting down, it felt the limb snap and flesh tear. The man went limp.

  The fight was over.

  Behind him, he was aware of the shouts and screams of friends, people he used to know. When the beast turned toward them, the faces were familiar, but he couldn’t remember the names attached to them. It was a life he’d lost. It was one he couldn’t go back to.

  Not without his human half. The beast knew it should have tried to keep Dom from fading, but it no longer seemed important. His mate, the only reason the beast had for fighting, was gone.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Aimee knew something was wrong the moment she opened her eyes. It was a feeling that sat in her stomach, like being cut loose in the ocean. She was adrift with no anchor. Immediately, panic washed over her. She threw herself from bed and raced downstairs. She crashed through Dom’s bedroom door only to find the room untouched.